Legal Centre Lesvos Quarterly Newsletter: April – June 2021
The forced closure of most of the safe and alternative accommodation facilities in Lesvos put additional pressure on the already overcrowded and inhumane hotspot camp Mavrovouni / Karatepe ‘Temporary Reception and Identification Centre’ (so-called Moria 2.0), where as of 4 July, 4329 people were living in shared tents.1 Still labeled as a ‘temporary’ camp, thousands of people have been forced to live there for over nine months.
With particular regard to COVID-19, the internal measures in place within the camp are insufficient to effectively allow any physical distancing from others or suitable hygiene conditions. In May, there was an increase in people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the camp and on the island. 550 positive COVID-19 cases were reported in Lesvos, 227 of which were found amongst the residents of Mavrovouni camp. Residents of the camp share a very limited living space with other people, and stand in long queues in close proximity to others in order to access all basic necessities, including food, water, toilets and showers. In May, the so-called “quarantine area” set up inside Mavrovouni camp to isolate people who tested positive for COVID-19 and their contacts reached its full capacity for at least a week. People who were not sick when they entered the quarantine area became sick while imprisoned there.
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